T&T's Parliament should start moving towards the technologically advanced electronic (E) Parliament which could increase efficiency and involve more silent systems as other Parliaments have done, People's Partnership Senator Fazal Karim said yesterday. During debate on a motion concerning Parliament's efficiency, Karim noted moves in other states towards E-Parliament which facilitated electronic voting on bills and e-discussions on issues. He said such systems could eliminate cross talk and focus better on issues.
Karim also suggested E-Parliament systems linking the TT Parliament with others regionally and internationally to create bills for instance. Karim acknowledged that such a system would take time. On answers to questions posed in Parliament, Karim said the former PNM Government was tardy in replying to questions, displaying a "dismissive, contemptuous and arrogant" attitude and "believing the day of reckoning would never come," Karim added.
He claimed citizens therefore felt Parliament was ineffective to get answers and that matters of urgent public importance were not dealt with either. Karim noted queries about the $45 million scholarship plan under the PNM. He also noted that 87 per cent of questions in 2007, for instance, remain unanswered. A Government that contemptuously refuses to answers questions in Parliament will feel the might and power of the people," Karim added.(GA)
